Changing Planet, Changing Health by Paul R. Epstein MD & Dan Ferber

Author:Paul R. Epstein MD & Dan Ferber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 2011-06-16T16:00:00+00:00

BACKSLIDING WITH BUSH

As the twenty-first century began, the international community of nations, especially those in Europe, was forging ahead to address the forces driving climate change. The United States, however, had just elected George W. Bush as president.

As a young man, George W. Bush had followed the footsteps of his father, George H. W. Bush, into the oil business, and by the time he ran for president, his financial gains in that business and as owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team had made him a millionaire many times over.

During the presidential campaign, George W. Bush had tacked to the center on climate change, promising “mandatory reduction targets” for carbon dioxide from power plants. But when Bush selected another oilman, former congressman Dick Cheney, as his running mate, the die was cast regarding his administration’s policies on climate change and energy.

Cheney was an old Washington hand who had served as a congressman from Wyoming and had run the Pentagon under President George H. W. Bush. When George W. Bush selected him, Cheney was serving as chairman and chief executive officer of Halliburton, a multinational oilfield services company, where he had earned tens of millions of dollars. Under Bush, he would become one of the most powerful vice presidents in United States history.

By the time Bush and Cheney took office, there was no longer any doubt among mainstream scientists that climate was changing in response to human activities. The debate had become focused on how much, how fast, where, and to what extent climate change was taking place. But less than two months after taking office, as moderate Republicans in the Senate were preparing legislation designed to limit carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, Bush reversed his campaign pledge and opposed it at the urging of Vice President Cheney.

Meanwhile, Bush charged Cheney with developing a new energy policy for the nation, and Cheney wasted no time convening a task force to do so. Although Cheney fought tenaciously for years to keep the list of his advisers secret, a remarkable series of lawsuits and investigations gradually revealed who they were. They included executives from Enron, ExxonMobil, more than a dozen oil and drilling companies, major utilities, and three dozen industrial trade associations. The task force met just once with representatives from environmental groups. At that point, the report had already been drafted.

Cheney’s energy task force recommended the construction of new oil refineries, several hundred thousand miles of oil pipelines, tens of thousands of miles of new gas pipelines, and a slew of new power plants, most of which were to be powered by coal or oil. The task force warned that if their recommendations were not followed, there would be an energy shortage that would “inevitably undermine our economy, our standard of living, and our national security.” Cheney told the Associated Press that year, “Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy.”

Bush and Cheney remained intimately tied with the

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